Most ostomates employ some type of bag or pouch system to collect bodily wastes discharged from their surgically created stoma. Today, such pouches are generally formed of light weight, odor proof, flexible polymeric materials and the collection systems are designed to be inconspicuous and permit the ostomate to engage in normal physical activity. However, many ostomates, particularly immediately following surgery, have fears concerning their ability to resume a "normal life". These fears center around worries that the collection system will leak or that odor will escape and that the system will be noticeable even through their outer clothing. Part of these problems are due to the discharge of flatus into the pouch which can cause an embarrassing distention of the pouch.
In order to overcome the problem of gas build up within the pouch, it has been suggested that the pouch be provided with a tortuous path vent opening as note, for example, Baxter in U.S. Pat. No. 3,055,368 and Neumeier et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,185,630. Ornstein in U.S. Pat. No. 4,367,742 and Briggs et al. in U.K. Pat. application No. 2,031,282, for example, employ a tortuous path and a deodorizing filter. Other proposals have involved filters which could be attached to the pouch as note, for example, Steer et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 3,268,286 or filters attached over a vent opening in the pouch wall as note, for example, Bevan et al. U.K. Pat. application No. 2,083,760. It has also been suggested to employ a pouch having a deodorizing vent opening in its upper edge as note, for example, Steer et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,308, Kulbach et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,211,224, and Jensen in British Pat. No. 1,541,565. Bonfils in U.S. Pat. No. 3,439,677 disclose a pouch having a vent opening in the outer pouch wall opposite and above the stomal aperture covered by a deodorizing filter. Ockwell et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,120,715 and McLeod in U.S. Pat. No. 4,318,406 disclose multi-layered filters adapted to be sealed over a vent opening in the pouch wall. Steer et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,331,148 disclose employing a deodorizing cover bag.
Other venting pouch systems are disclosed by Nolan et al. in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,759,260 and 3,804,091, by Nolan in U.S. Pat. No. 3,952,727, by Jessup et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,203,445, by Larsen et al. in British Pat. No. 1,571,382 and by LaGro in U.S. Pat. No. 4,274,848.